Documents / Hearing transcript
This is the printed transcript of an April 5, 1966 hearing of the U.S. House Committee on Armed Services on unidentified flying objects. Air Force Secretary Harold Brown testified that 9,501 of 10,147 sightings from 1947 through 1965 had been identified and that no threat or extraterrestrial evidence had been found. The record includes the Scientific Advisory Board ad hoc committee report recommending university studies and the Air Force's marsh gas explanation for the Dexter and Hillsdale, Michigan sightings. Members also questioned J. Allen Hynek and Maj. Hector Quintanilla about the Exeter, New Hampshire case.
5993 (The information referred to is as follows:) Sightings of unidentified flying objects Year Total sightings Unidentified Year Total sightings Unidentified 1947 122 12 1958 627 10 1948 156 7 1959 390 12 1949 186 22 1960 557 14 1950 210 27 1961 591 13 1951_ 169 22 1962 474 15 1952_ 1,501 303 1963 399 14 1953 509 42 1964_ 562 19 1954 487 46 1965 886 16 1955_ 545 24 tft-14.7- 6461956 670 14 Total 1957 1,006 14 I0 Ali7 AIR FORCE STATEMENT REGARDING THE UFO SIGHTINGS AT DEXTER, MICH., ON MARCH 20, 1966, AND HILLSDALE, MICH., ON MARCH 21, 1966 The investigation of these two sightings was conducted by Dr. J. Allen Hyn.ek, scientific consultant to Project Blue Book; personnel from Selfridge Air Force Base, Mich.; and personnel from the Project Blue Book office at Wright-Patter- son Air Force Base, Ohio. In addition to these two specific cases, there has been a flood of reports from this area both before and after March 24) and 21. The investigating personnel have not had the time to investigate all of these. It has been determined, how- ever, that in Hillsdale, over and above the sincere and honest reporting by the young ladies at Hillsdale College, certain young men have played pranks with flares. It has also been determined that the photographs released yesterday through the press was taken on March 17 just before sunrise near Milan, Mich., and have nothing to do with the cases in question. The photograph clearly shows trails made as a result of a time exposure of the rising crescent moon and the planet Venus. The majority of observers in both the Dexter and Hillsdale cases have reported only silent glowing lights near the ground--red, yellow, and blue-green. They have not described an object. The only two observers who did describe an object have stated that they were no closer than 500 yards—better than a quarter of a mile away—a distance which does not allow detailA to be determined. Witnesses have described glowing lights—lights that seem to move but never far from a definite place or lights which suddenly disappeared and popped up at another place. The locale in both cases was a swamp. In both cases, the location of the glow was pinpointed—in Dexter it was seen between two distant groups of people and at Hillsdale it was seen in a swampy depression between the girls and the distant trees. It was in both cases a very localized phenomena. The swampy location is most significant. A swamp is a place of rotting vegetation and decomposition. Swamps are not a province of astronomers. Yet, the famous Dutch astronomer, Minnaert, in his book, "Light and Colour in the Open Air," describes lights that have been seen in swamps by the astronomer, Bessel, and other excellent observers. The lights resemble tiny flames sometimes seen right on the ground and sometimes rising and floating above it. The flames go out in one place and suddenly appear in another, giving the illusion of motion. The colors are sometimes yellow, some- times red, and sometimes blue-green. No heat is felt, and the lights do not burn or char the ground. They can appear for hours at a stretch and sometimes for a whole night. Generally, there is no smell and no sound except for the popping sound of little explosions such as when a gas burner ignites. The rotting vegetation produces marsh gas which can be trapped during the winter by ice. When the spring thaw occurs, the gas may be released in some quantity. The flame, Minnaert says, is a form of chemical luminescence, and its low temperature is one of its peculiar features. Exactly how it occurs is not known and could well be the subject of further investigation. The glowing lights over the swamps near Dexter and Hinsdale were observed for 2 or 3 hours, and they were red, green, and yellow. They appeared to move sideways and to rise a short distance. No sound was heard except a popping sound.
Hearing transcript, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 88 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.